According to senior officials at the cell, the arrest and interrogation of two Kashmir-based drug dealers — Iqbal Rashid Saralu and Bashir Kadi — led to a series of raids in the city and around nine Mumbai-based charas dealers were arrested. The raids, conducted over the past 20 days, have led to seizure of 77 kg of charas.

The cell has, since November, initiated a crackdown on the narcotics dealer network.

The nine Mumbai-based dealers who were arrested include Mohammed Afzal Qureshi from Nagpada, Mohammed Asif Rehman khan from Madanpura, Abdul Rashid from Masjid, Ansari Khan from JJ Marg, Bharti Chandrakanth Pokale from Bhendi Bazaar, Hussain Mansuri and Habib Haneef Khan from Jogeshwari, Javed Sheikh from Byculla and M Khan from Sewree. While charas is routed through Kashmir, the interrogation has revealed a strong clientele in Mumbai. Many other suspects and dealers are likely to be nabbed in the next few days.

In a separate case involving a heroin racket, the cell has arrested four dealers — Dinesh Kumar Vishwakarma, Mansingh Rajput, Kishore Kumar Rathod and Sitaram Das — and seized the contraband valued at Rs 4 crore in the international market. Around 13 more dealers are under the scanner across the city.